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Darcy smiled a smile that Elizabeth had never seen before, one that revealed his dimples.

“Lady Elizabeth Rose Bennet, if I did not know that you would censure me for harming myself, I would be on my knee. When I look to the future, I know that there is only one who I picture walking through life with, as a true partner, and it is you, my beloved Lizzy. It has been some time now that I have known that you are the only one that I could ever marry. I love you with all that I am. Will you grant my heart’s fondest desire and agree to be my helpmeet, my partner in all things, my wife? ”

“Once I allowed myself to admit my true feelings for you, I realised that you are the only man in the known world that I could ever be prevailed upon to marry. Yes, William, a million times yes, I will marry you.” Lizzy replied softly

As she accepted him, she slid to the end of the settee and leaned toward him as he leaned toward her and their lips brushed, their first kiss chaste.

They drew back a little, and their eyes met.

He gently captured her face in his hands while her hands rested on his chest. They slid around his neck as he drew her to him, and with her in his lap, he kissed her hungrily, like he could never get enough.

Passion flared, and her arms tightened around him to keep his kiss, to negate his pulling away before he even tried.

When he moaned, she opened her mouth to taste it, and he took the invitation, his tongue sliding up hers so that he could penetrate her in some way, the satisfaction immense.

Her tongue teased his, and when she suckled, he was almost unmanned.

As much as they wanted to stay in this moment, they were cognisant of the fact that they would soon be checked on.

Once they created a small distance between them, Darcy asked the next most important question.

“Please tell me that you do not want a long betrothal, my love,” he asked huskily.

“If it were up to me, it would be next week, William. You are not the only one keen to say our vows. Tom and Amy will marry on the fifth day of June. What say you we request to have a double wedding with them? It is less than two months, but no one will be able to say that our marriage was a rushed or patched up affair,” Elizabeth suggested.

“If they want their own day, we will choose another. I am only suggesting the double wedding as I do not want to wait too long to be your wife William. The truth is that I would prefer a day that is just ours, I am impatient.”

“As much as I would love to marry you sooner, Lizzy, I agree with you. Will you talk to Tom and Amy?”

“No, William, I will not. As the commencement of our partnership, we will talk to them, once Papa has approved our engagement and our plan. I will ask that a footman request that they join us if it is convenient to them as they are at Bennet house with Jane, Marie, and their husbands.” Elizabeth put herself to rights and looked in a mirror to verify she was fit to be seen.

“I notice that you said once your father approves, not if he approves!” he teased with his dimple-revealing smile. She hoped that this was the second of many such smiles in which she would be the recipient.

“It seems, William, that we were the last in the family to acknowledge the fact that we love each other. I also may have let it slip that I loved you the night that the cold-water bath brought your fever down.” She blushed.

Darcy put his head back and let out a full-throated laugh that led to a knock on the door, the Duke poking his head into the drawing room.

“Is all well in here?” the bemused man asked.

He saw how close they were sitting one to another and could not miss that the Duke of Derbyshire was holding his middle daughter’s hand.

“Papa, I think that William may have something to ask you,” she said with a huge smile as she stood and exited the drawing room.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

Karen Younge had finally arrived at her destination of Fowey on Cornwall’s coast. It had been a long, arduous journey which had taken a large bite out of her dwindling funds.

She was determined to cause as much damage to her enemies as she could.

Mrs. Georgiana Wick did not miss the sign at the Blind Bill Inn looking for a new housekeeper.

Like she had when she applied for the position of Miss Darcy’s companion, Karen Younge had forged some characters and presented them to the innkeeper.

Truth be told, after running her boarding house she would be able to fill the position adequately.

She was interviewed by Mr. and Mrs. Grant Firth, the owners of the Bill.

Both Tess and Grant were impressed by the well-spoken woman who seemed to have impeccable character, and after a short deliberation, hired Mrs. Wick to be their new housekeeper.

At least if she had to go into service it would be in a position of authority.

The next part of her plan was to find and make contact with her brother Clay so that she could start to plan her revenge for the death of her George.

Mrs. Wick did not consider disguising her appearance in Fowey as she was unknown and was sure that the circuitous route that she had taken would hide her tracks well enough.

When four ex-soldiers took rooms at the Blind Bill, she did not give them a second thought, but they knew exactly who she was.

~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~

As soon as Lady Elizabeth entered the parlour where the rest were sitting, all the mothers present noted the look of bliss and love radiating from her countenance.

“Lizzy, is there any news that you would like to share?” Lady Sarah questioned her daughter in anticipation.

“William asked you to be his wife, did he not?” Lady Anne asked with obvious pleasure. Not able to speak at that moment, all Lizzy did was nod vigorously.

“It seems that you have accepted my nephew,” Lady Catherine observed, to which the nodding only increased in vigour.

“Yes, yes, he proposed, and I accepted,” she was finally able to share her joy.

“We are to be sisters! Oh, I knew how it would be when you said you loved William on that night when we thought we would lose him,” Lady Georgiana gushed.

“I am gaining not just one sister, but many sisters and brothers…” She deflated, “James will be my brother,” she whispered to herself, thinking that it would preclude a relationship between them in the future.

“He will not be your brother through blood, Georgie,” her Aunt Elaine interrupted her thoughts, wrapping an arm around her niece to soothe her.

“The family connection between you will be through marriage only. You can always think of him as he is now, a cousin.” Georgiana brightened as she saw the truth in her aunt’s words and immediately blushed at the presumptive thoughts she had verbalised.

“You have no idea how happy this makes me,” Lady Anne said as she hugged her soon to be daughter. “There was no doubt in my mind that you two are a perfect match. It gladdens me that the two of you see what the rest of us have seen for months now.”

“You owe me ten pounds, Reggie,” Lady Catherine informed her brother, amused at the questioning looks around the room. “I wagered that William would propose in the next fortnight when Reggie said he had not noticed them circling one another for months now.” She shot her brother a smug look.

“Welcome to the family, Elizabeth,” the Earl of Matlock hugged his daughter’s sister. “Well, I suppose that we are already family but now you will be my niece. Please call me Uncle Reggie from now on.”

“Thank you, Uncle Reggie. I am very pleased to re-gain you as an uncle.” Lizzy teased him.

“William will be so pleased that he and Richard will be brothers,” Georgie said excitedly.

Lady Elizabeth realised that in her joy she had forgotten that once she married, she would replace Lady Anne as the mistress of all of the Darcy’s estates and town homes. “Aunt Anne, I am grateful that I will get to learn how to be the mistress of Pemberley from you. I do not want to supplant …”

“Lizzy, do not be silly. You will not be supplanting me or usurping my role! It is with the greatest joy that I will watch you become mistress and that I will be able to aid you as you see fit. From now on, could I be Mother Anne?” Lady Anne hugged the young lady that had been a daughter of her heart for some time, and would soon be her daughter in reality.

The Duke of Hertfordshire sat on the settee his daughter had vacated; just not as close to his future son as Elizabeth had been.

“Lizzy seems to think that you have a question to put to me?” he asked as he arched an eyebrow like his middle daughter was wont to do, a trait that she had obviously inherited from her father.

“Yes, your Grace. I asked for Lady Elizabeth’s hand in marriage, and to my supreme pleasure she accepted me. I now request your consent and blessing of our union.” Darcy was silently praying that the man he hoped would soon be his father-in-law had no objections to him.

“Even as you behaved as you did in Hertfordshire when we were first acquainted with you, I could see that you were more than what you allowed others to see. My then future sons confirmed my belief, and you came and humbled yourself and apologised. Our Lizzy did not let you off the hook and was harsh in her judgement. Rather than run with your tail between your legs, you made some hard changes, letting the man that your mother and family always knew was inside emerge. Even before you threw your body in front of a bullet meant for my Lizzy, I knew that you were a man worthy of her hand, mayhap the only man worthy of her. So yes, William, you have my consent and blessing. Welcome to the family as a son rather than a cousin.” Bennet shook Darcy’s hand.

“Thank you, my Lord…” Lord Thomas cut him off.

“Firstly, we are the same rank. Secondly, I am to be your father-in-law so please call me Bennet or Father Bennet. You do know that you will be gaining two fathers–in-laws, do you not?” Bennet smirked.

“Two? I am not sure that I take your meaning,” Darcy’s brow furrowed as he tried to determine what Bennet meant.

“I forgot that you were not at Richard and Andrew’s wedding, Marie was walked down the aisle by my brother Sed. He and Rose do not have children and have adopted my children as their own, so you will, in fact, be receiving two sets of in-laws.” Bennet chuckled.

“Should I ask his permission as well?” Darcy asked pedantically and Bennet’s laugh told him it was the right thing to do, even to make him laugh again.

“I will do so when next we meet. If I may change the subject? Lizzy proposed a double wedding when Tom and Amy marry. Do you object if the other couple agrees?” he asked, hoping that his beloved’s father would not require a longer betrothal.

“Conditional on Amy and Tom agreeing, I see no reason why not, Son.” Bennet agreed, having long known this day was inevitable, and was grateful he had a couple more months with his Lizzy; rather than seeking the special license some might demand given her nursing of him, this which would mean she would not be gone before a week was past.

Not too many minutes later, the rest of the family re-joined the two dukes in the drawing room as they waited for the three couples from Bennet House to join them.

Ten minutes later, they were joined not just by the three couples expected from Bennet House, but the younger Bennet twins and Wes and Loretta De Melville.

The news was shared, and after a new round of congratulations and wishing the betrothed couple well, Elizabeth asked Lord Tom and Lady Amy to join her on a settee away from the rest. She made the request on behalf of herself and her William.

Elizabeth made sure that they understood that she and William would not be upset in any way if they wanted their own day.

Neither Amy nor Tom had any objection. Amy reminded them that the wedding was being planned for Ashbury, but she had no objection if they decided to marry in Town.

The couples settled on marrying at St. Georges, the church at which all of the family worshiped when they resided in Town.

Once the news of the Darcys’ elevation was shared, Richard Fitzwilliam, who could not have been happier that his cousin William was soon to be his brother, teased his cousin as often as he could with ‘your Grace’ this and ‘your Grace’ that until Lady Jane gave a small shake of her head to make him cease.

The new Duke understood his cousin’s rapid compliance as he had recently been on the receiving end of a Bennet daughter’s wrath.

He was sure that Richard would rather avoid that for as long as possible.

A family dinner was planned for the Saturday, two days hence for all of the extended family to celebrate the betrothals of both couples.